The blog will offer purely objective and candid analyses for a better understanding of the events that keep happening and that provide dynamism and direction to the flow of the history and development of the human societies. Being a forum, the comments and opinions from readers whether for or against the views expressed in it, are gratefully welcome. Suggestions for improving the blog are welcome.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Lately eight men raped a 14 year old girl in Lahore. The
entire country and the world at large are aghast at the occurrence of this
heinous crime. Yet no male has ever been punished for rape in Pakistan under
the Sharia law. The reason is that it is utterly impossible to produce evidence
that Islamic Shariah demands to prove the incidence of rape.

Such abominable cases drag on interminably in the civil
courts and finally the courts, the police and witnesses try to get rid of the
mess they find themselves in. In the meantime the pressures and threats are
hurled from the perpetrators to obstruct the right verdict in such cases.
However in the present times, the rape cases can be decided in a week’s time
with the test of the DNA and there is no need of any witnesses or other
evidence which always stand the risk of being tempered with.

Islamic Sharia ordains rapist to be stoned to death. Yet in
the entire history of Islam only one woman was given this punishment because
despite being a victim, she insisted to be stoned. So one can imagine how difficult
it is religiously to prove rape in order to award the prescribed Sharia
punishment to the perpetrators.

The conditions laid down in
Islamic jurisprudence to prove rape or sexual assaults are incredibly
impossible to fulfill. As such in Islamic societies, not a single rapist has
ever been sentenced for this heinous crime. The irony is that the burden of
proof is laid upon the female victim who is coerced by one or more males to
submit to their lust.

The evidence of rape against a woman is accepted only from
four absolutely pious persons. The four virtuous individuals should keep
watching the rape with actual penetration taking place. Yet there is no
foolproof mechanism to determine if the witnesses were actually pious or have
seen the rape being taking place.

There is no Islamic injunction that exhorts these righteous
witnesses to stop or forcibly push away the perpetrator from tormenting the
female victim who could be a 5 year teenage girl to a 70 year old woman. The
devilish and heartless rapist can continue the abhorrent crime till all the
four witnesses have minutely observed from a close distance that it was a real
rape. While watching they cannot shut their eyes from seeing the naked body of
the female and the organ of the fiendish sex maniac.

The vile act could last from a minute to an hour or longer.
If the female victim wants justice against the rapist in a Shariah court, she
has to go around and find four male witnesses to give evidence of the crime. In
this situation there is no consideration that the victim woman was physically
unfit to go or was unconscious and whether mentally and physically she was in a
position to travel all the way to the court which could be several miles way.
What about the child victim? How could she deal with these patently tough
conditions?

It is a matter of pure conjecture if the eyewitnesses would
wait for her to come to senses or otherwise be ready to go with her to the
court and offer evidence. The logistics, the condition of the victimized
female, the availability or the possibility of four witnesses readily agreeing
to go to court have been completely overlooked.

From the picture that one can perceive in the mind is as if
the woman was able to travel to a nearby court immediately after the crime and
that the witnesses were all the time available to accompany her. In the
meantime no one knows where the rapist would be: flee away from the scene or
caught by someone and confined somewhere.

It surmises that the rapist or a group of rapists were
committing their heinous crime in full view of many people with absolute day
time visibility. One would wonder if the rapist would be an idiot enough to
commit this despicable crime in the public and allow the four very pious people
to watch his act for a certain period of time. The woman may scream or resist
yet there is no injunction that witnesses or the onlookers should release the
woman from the rapist’s clutches.

Can a rapist physically remain in a state of sexual
intercourse or assault till all the witnesses have seen it? By the time the
second witness gets closer, the rapist might have finished
his satanic act. Also from where would those four chaste witnesses
come all of a sudden?

If the act is being done in a secret place or with a
kidnapped victim which mostly is so in such situations, then how the witnesses
could be produced? Another question is that how a victimized young child could
remain in full senses and search for four witnesses and then persuade them to
go with her in a court and give testimony in her favor?

Doesn't this entire look like a spooky facade never to be
accomplished? Even a moron would know that the criminals, the thieves and
the womanizers seldom commit their crime in broad day light as to be seen by
others and be caught. A rapist committing an appalling crime of
snatching a female’s honor, virginity or chastity would be more secretive than
a robber or burglar.

The social stigma attached to rape compels the victims as
well their families to remain tight lipped. While Islamic law gives absolute
leverage and escape route to the rapists, the poor and helpless victims do not
have the corresponding protection and succor from the law to be bold enough to
fight out the case.

In villages and cities, people know who molested an
innocent girl. But besides muted gossips and limited protests, no one usually
has the courage to challenge the savage perpetrators who stalk the streets with
flattened chests and stiffened mustache.

But if a girl of an influential person or family elopes or
falls in loves with a less privileged person, the honor killing becomes the
paramount urgency with the family of the girl. These are paradoxically
different yardsticks with which the society measures the rape or even
infatuations. In Pakistan we learn and read about the honor killings of the
wives or sisters. In many such cases, the female is totally innocent and would
be brutalized by the callous and an overbearing husband.

In many instances, the husband wants to marry another woman
and thus kills the previous wife in the name of honor (in Sindh it is called
Karo-Kari). Additionally there are countless instances when the sisters and
daughters were killed because they were in innocent conversation with a young
male counterpart or were having an actual love relationship with a boy.

The horrendous dimension of this repulsive phenomenon is
that the child born out of the rape is used by the law as a certified criminal
act against the victimized female. It means that she is treated as the one who
willingly slept with a roughneck. The rapist who committed this crime is not
touched till the four witnesses testify against him.

Tragically, the poor and infirm female victim is put in
jail with no chances of release or reprieve. Isn’t a gross travesty of justice?
A strong and overpowering rapist subjects a female to a horrifying crime but is
free to repeat the same loathsome act again and again, while the poor victim is
lodged in jail for an indefinite period of time. There are many miserable women
languishing in jails for an act that was forced upon them.

The argument given by the Islamic clerics is that the
father of man cannot be traced but the child coming out of an unmarried woman’s
womb is a sure proof of an anti Islamic act. It is simply overlooked that she
was coerced by the powerful males to submit to their lust.

When the rape cases are referred to the civil courts, there
are no witnesses against the culprits and they invariably are freed. If the
case is referred to the Shariah Court, there is no way these monsters can be
sentenced 100 lashes because of the lack of evidence supposed to come from the
four absolutely immaculate Muslim witnesses.

Bu while we talk only about female raping we forget that
young children too are hunted and molested by the insidious individuals. That
crime is much more serious than the rape of a grown up young girl or female
victim. The children should be protected from the habitual pedophiles that are
everywhere in our society.

They prey upon the boys of their localities and also carry
away the runaway children found in parks or working in restaurants and
workshops. Some of the boys carry the guilt feelings throughout their life that
they cannot share with others. But this certainly corrodes their personality
from inside.

It would be desirable and rather indispensable to try the
rape cases in the civil courts. The proof of a rape committed could be
determined by the latest technique of DNA. Once the women folks or their kith
are confident that the culprit would be punished and law would prevail, they
would be emboldened to identify them and provide all necessary information
needed for the justice to take its course.

In the United States the laws about sex offences are
absolutely strict. The rapist cannot go around and hunt down the females. The
incidents of forcible sex do take place but once caught there is no mercy or
leniency in American law for the sex offenders. There could be several years of
jail term for the offenders even for sexual advances such as physical touch of
a teen age girl or boy.

For minor or major sex offences they are labeled as sex
offenders forever or for a specified period of time. The felons cannot reside
near schools or in the neighborhoods and are treated as pariah by the law.
Their pictures are published and circulated in local magazines and newspapers.

Now this kind of strict and severe punishment in heathen or
un-Islamic society should serve as a shining example for Islamic societies
whose religion puts enormous emphasis on piety and sanctity of body and soul
and where even going out of for a woman without veil or head scarf is treated
as violation of Islamic laws.

It would be in order if some of the controversial Shariah
laws are amended through Ijtehad (reinterpretation of Islamic injunctions
without altering the core objectives) with regard to the rape (Zina-Bil-Jabr)
so as to ensure the imperatives of justice. Only by fusing the modern laws with
the Islamic laws can the Islamic polities dispense justice to the rape victims
and duly punish the perpetrators of this most abominable crime.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

The emergence of
ISIS in the Middle East landscape is a mind boggling phenomenon. How
Al-Baghdadi and his cohorts could amass such a committed and huge force of
heartless crusaders to rampage in the length and breadth of Iraq and Syria,
fight the traditional regular armies and entrench doggedly either to kill or to
be killed in return.

Thus far the mighty
air power of many countries including both USSR and USA has been unsuccessful
to dislodge and scatter the ISIS militia which in fact is a worrisome dimension
for the world at large. ISIS is causing more destabilization of Iraq and Syria
than the previous wars both internal and external.

The sordid fact
is that in the Middle East, in the littoral states of Gulf and in the Arab
peninsula there have never been a political government established through the
will and franchise of the people. By and large these have been tribal dynasties
and family dictatorships.

The Arab spring brought in its wake, significant and
formidable transformation in the system of governance or democracy elsewhere
but not in Iraq and Syria. Saudi Arabia and Emirates remained unaffected by
that historic watershed change. Yemen, Libya Iraq and Syria entered into a
phase of civil war that is still raging ferociously. In Iraq and Syria this
civil war is between the ISIS and the incumbent regimes.

In an atmosphere
of political and social stagnation the dictatorial dynasties like Saudi Arabia,
Iraq and Syria and even Egypt draw their strength and legitimacy either from
religion or military. These regimes lack legitimacy to rule as these are not
born out of the people’s mandate given through ballot.

Since these family or
sectarian based dynasties or military outfits are backed up by the foreign powers such as Syria by USSR
and Iraq by the United State, a third force has emerged with the slogan of
establishing an Islamic Emirate in Levant territories similar to that of Taliban created in Afghanistan for a few
years( 1996-2001).

In 2003 the so
called Coalition Allies led by the United States eliminated the Iraqi Baathist regime of Saddam Hussain. Since then Iraq has a fragile and sectarian based
democratic governments. In Syria the Alawitegovernment
is under a family dictatorship using all brutal means against
their people especially the Sunni population.

Although there has been a
simmering civil war going on in Syria, the Arab Spring that swept across the
Islamic countries of Sahara and Middle East generated since 2011 a new wave of
civil unrest in Syria which is apace now.

Ironically the
deadly wars have been thrust upon the people of these lands either by local
tyrants or by foreign interventions have shaken these societies upside down.
Now the Taliban and Muslims crusaders or jihadists who fought for the west in
Afghanistan against the former Soviet Union later were treated as terrorists
and a new war was started against them in 2001. Thus the heroes became terrorists.

But woefully the label of terrorism exclusively used for a limited group of
Taliban started being used for the entire Muslim world. In the context of Middle
East those challenging the autocratic regimes are also being dubbed as terrorists.

In case of such gruesome
incidents as in Paris, San Bernardino or 9/11 the label of terrorism should be
exclusively used for the specific groups of terrorists who carried out these horrific
acts and not for all Muslims. That trend is leading to a clash of civilization
based upon religion as predicted by Professor Huntington.

It should be in
order if the Western World particularly the United States and politicians
should correct this misconception because Muslims have stood by America in Afghanistan
in defeating the former Soviet Union: the arch enemy of capitalism or the free
world.

At the same time
the international power brokers and super powers along with the UNO initiate a
process of democratization of the Muslim countries that are still under the
domination of family autocracies or the religious outfits or else under the military
junta rule. That is going to be the best and a most preferable solution to
bridle and nail terrorism.

The United
States and its allies and Europe should use their clout and influence to change
the regimes and ensure choice of the rulers through a genuine democratic
process. We can see that in Tunisia the Arab spring was successful. The
people’s uprising was aimed at a genuine cause which was the change of the
rulers and a dysfunctional and corrupt government.

The United Nations would rather
move to ban the autocracy in any form and for that objective the Security
Council and the world powers should play a decisive role. If the islands of autocracies
and ruthless dynasties and dictatorships are dismantled to be replaced by
governments chosen by the people, the society and government would be stable
and accountable.

The use of brute force to sustain proxy governments and sham
regimes is a recipe for turmoil and chaos as we can witness all over in the
Middle East, barring Morocco and Jordan.

The anti Muslim
rhetoric and outlook has been there in the west, but of late this has assumed
vitriolic proportions. Truthfully merely Muslim bashing and vilifying them
en-bloc for isolated and odd incidents like San Bernardino and Paris would be
counterproductive and an exercise in futility.

Rather it would create ill will
and tension between 1.6 billion Muslims and the Christian West which would be
detrimental to the creation of a world free of terrorism, militancy and hatred.
It would be a saner policy to take the peaceful Islamic states along to root
out the menace of terrorism and for peaceful world.

At the same time
it is also inevitable to debilitate the radical militants as Taliban and ISIS
to pave way for the regime change from autocracy to democracy. In that regard the
strategy unfurled by president Obama can be decisively effective and definitely
result-oriented.

He has submitted a Draft resolution to the Congress for
permission to go ahead with his anti ISIS plan. President Obama doesn’t want
American ground troops in Iraq and Syria because in his reckoning that was what
ISIS wants and the America is not going to commit that blunder.

He wants to
break their command and control system, block their channels of funds, recapture
the oil refineries under their control and stop sale of oil. Both Hillary
Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the front runner Democratic presidential candidates
have expressed their support for that approach.

About domestic
ill will towards the Muslims, Hillary Clinton has asserted that “we must
work more closely with Muslim-American communities. Just like Martin, I met
with a group of Muslim-Americans this past week to hear from them about what
they're doing to try to stop radicalization. They will be our early warning
signal. That's why we need to work with them, not demonize them, as the
Republicans have been doing

Sanders
opined, “I believe in action in which we put together a strong coalition of
forces, major powers and the Muslim nations.”

These are the
saner voices that goad caution and restraint and not to dub, discriminate or
profile the Muslims as terrorists as it would not only be a violation of the American constitution but would also
isolate the United States from the entire Muslim world by way of interaction
and adverse impact on the mutual trade and cooperation.

Currently USA
and Russia are seeking the Security Council’s approval to build up an
international coalition for action in Iraq along the same lines that United
States had earlier formed twice in Iraq. The first was the Operation Desert
Storm built in February 1991 consisting
of 34 nations led by the United
States againstIraqin response to Iraq'sinvasion and annexation
of Kuwait.

The second was "shock and awe” that led to the invasion of Iraq and
collapse of theBa'athist government, capturing of Terrorism, Muslims and United Statesin December 2003 and his execution by a military court three
years later.Such a coalition was built in Afghanistan in 2001 under the title of “Operation
Enduring Freedom” to dislodge Taliban.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

The commuters plying on the newly constructed President George Bush Turnpike (PGBT) may bear me out that some of its segments are bumpy and uneven causing rude jerks and shake-ups to the speeding vehicles. The major faulty portion of this otherwise immensely useful highway starts from the precincts of the Irving city or precisely when it crosses over the State Highway 183 and up to the point when it joins with I-35.

The cars and other vehicles get jolt after jolt and tilt on the spots where the surface is depressed or elevated from the normal surface. All of a sudden the bump or uneven patch would rock the vehicle shaking the passengers rudely. The kind of smooth surface that one can find on I-30 or I-20 is sparse on the PGBT and may look like an oasis in the wilderness. It surmises that a portion of this 62 miles long traveling artery has been subjected to the faulty workmanship.

After the commissioning of the 8th segment of PGBT in December 2011, this highway has been repaired intermittently. Later its faulty surface with bulging or protruding bumps has been smoothened and leveled by grinding or slashing. That repair work continues since 2011 particularly on the segment linking State Highway 183 with I-35. But it seems that it would be utterly difficult to bring the surface on an even keel as that would be tantamount to spending several millions more dollars on such a venture. As a matter of fact this faulty portion needs a new layer of resurfacing to make it smooth and jerk-free.

One might conjecture that the underneath base or foundation of the Turnpike has not been solidified enough to save it from sinking or getting depressed on various sections. That is the reason that at many places the surface is pressed below and which causes sudden jerks to the speeding automobiles both cars and trucks. At the faulty places whether depressed or bulged, the overtaking of other vehicles seems to be a daunting task.

This Turnpike has been dedicated to George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States of America and rightly so. Its importance is like the main blood carrying artery in the human body. But poor quality of construction and ensuing jerky driving overshadows its pristine objective which is to provide a sort of wider and safer highway to all the main cities along the route and thus saving the time of the commuters.

The Turnpike passes through three Texas counties viz.Dallas,CollinandDenton and nine Dallas suburbs Rowlett, Sachse, GarlandRichardson, Plano,Carrollton,Farmers Branch,Irving and Grand Prairie. Its segment IX would be extended to Garland and Mesquite and is currently at the planning stage. The final segment X would be started tentatively in 2030.

The North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) that operates this Turnpike and its maintenance agency Roy Jorgensen Associates should take urgent heed of the defects being developed in this extremely vital link between various cities in Dallas and devise a strategy to repair those spots that hinder the smooth flow of the traffic on PGBT. If neglected and left unattended its viability and efficacy might further be eroded. The cost would go up astronomically in subsequent times if left as such.

Those motorists who take a detour
from I-20 to 408 spur must bear me out that a wondrous spectacle of captivating
natural scenery opens up before the eyes. The green and salubrious hillock
around which the exit spur road circulates is a treat to the eyes of the
beholders.

The thick forest starts at the end
of the detour link road branching off from I-20 and extends on to the both
sides of the 408 spur as if it is a part of the Switzerland hilly slopes.
Mythically one may say that this forest could have been the abode of the
proverbial gods that used to reside in inaccessible valleys and mountains. On
the higher altitude both sides of the spur are laden with thick forest studded
with tall pine trees.

As an ardent lover of nature I am
immensely fascinated and rather captivated by the serene beauty of this unique
valley. This spur that winds through a breathtaking beautiful valley is not
very long. Yet it offers a natural phenomenon on both sides that enlivens the
soul and uplifts the subdued spirits.

The slopes on the mountains are
studded with trees that are very old and must be treated as relics and
preserved. The trees in wild jungles decay on their own and are reborn and the
same process is taking place here. But this reminds one how in the past this
short strip would have been replete with eye-catching and wondrous facets of
the virgin nature. This forest adds to the grandeur of this natural
resort.

While ascending you may look towards
the right side and you will see a valley as charming as it is mysterious. Surrounded
by the thick cluster of tall trees there is a lake down below with sparkling
water like a glittering jewel. This is a different lake from the spacious lake
that covers large on area on the eastern periphery of the city of Grand Prairie
and over which more than a mile long bridge links the Baptist University with
the city of Grand Prairie and joins with the 408 spur. This road in Pioneer Parkway
and is also called 303 spur.

The landscape down below around the
lake and surroundings is simply panoramic. Near the lake there is a small naval
complex that might have been operational in the past or may be is still
functional for maritime purposes. And there is a huge and imposing complex of
the Dallas Baptist University that too adds to the majesty of the valley. The
Pioneer Parkway runs through the naval complex and the university compound. Also
situated nearby is the National Cemetery.

After dusk when you are descending
to join the I-20 Highway, you would witness yet another mesmeric panorama. A
sea of lights interspersed on a vast land of Arlington and Grand Prairie
dazzles the eyes of the motorists.One would wonder if these sprawling
cities could be the most lighted and glittering in the entire state of Texas or
even the whole of the United States.

This spectacle keeps commuters so engaged
that for a while one tends to forget that he or she was driving on a winding
road ascending and descending both the ways. One may come across one or two oddforlorncoyotes in search of food. There might be other animals in
the forest and the wildlife department should preserve these animals from being
killed by the speeding vehicles or die of hunger.

Alas the serene and virgin beauty
of this wonderful two or three long stretch of the spur better be called a
valley, has fallen victim to the prying eyes of the real estate builders.
During the past few years the chaste beauty of this valley has been sullied and
woefully tarnished by construction of two eyesore complexes. One is an
apartment complex and the other is a church building both built by denuding a
part of the thick forest. These look ugly spots on the fair landscape of this
charming valley. But I would wish these buildings were not there.

There is a lurid possibility that
in due course, more commercial buildings might emerge on both sides of the 408
Spur and thus this three miles segment of a natural resort would lose its
serenity and beauty. The commercial lust and greed is swallowing this
delightful eye treat for the travelers.

City fathers must do something
urgent to save this valley as a natural heritage and further construction
should be banned along the spur in order to retain its natural and pristine
beauty.

The portion of the spur that turns
into loop 12 is now dotted with commercial buildings, gas station and apartment
complex. In the past this tract too must have had a forest on both sides of the
Loop 12 and as green and unspoiled as a part of the 408 spur now is.

There are
still one or two ranches or farm houses on the 408 spur where farming is being
done even now by some left out residents.
This gives one a feeling that this place should have been a farmers’
village in the near or in the distant past.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

It looks improbable for the juvenile Bilawal
Bhutto Zardari (now 27) to revive and resuscitate the moribund, discredited and
hugely mauled Pakistan People’s Party of which he is the current chairman. His
father Asif Ali Zardari is the co-chairperson of the party.

Bilawal Zardari Bhutto took the reins of the
PPP on December 30, 2007. Someone earnestly apprise me of his meager part in
bolstering the distorted and blemished image of Pakistan People Party. Also
please do me a favor of pointing out his initiatives and vision, his goals and
policies to rediscover Pakistan and infuse new spirit into party’s rustic rank
and file.

Not to
speak of restructuring his defamed and declining party and unleashing a
visionary manifesto for the uplift of Pakistan, he seems to be totally
oblivious of the ground realities and lacks even basic awareness of the
national issues. His demeanor is docile. His public utterances are incoherent, interspersed
with odd and occasional uncalled for outbursts. In short he doesn’t have the
basic ingredients` of a political leader.

If the Pakistan People’s party is the party of
masses and the People then it should discard the tradition of having dynastic chairman
or the president from the Bhutto family. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto the founder of the
party could remain the boss of the PPP as long as he wanted to be. His
succession by his wife and later by his daughter Benazir Bhutto was done in
affection and as a token of alliance with the Bhutto family. But to keep the
presidency of the party within Bhutto clan is outright negation of the
manifesto and ideology for which this party was founded.

Through a political process and with a shady
profile Asif Ali Zardari could have never become the chairman of PPP. Benazir
Bhutto the daughter of illustrious Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and a political stalwart
was assassinated in Rawalpindi on 27 December 2007 in mysterious circumstances.

According to her dubious Will (whose only page has been made public), Zardari
assumed the co-chairmanship of PPP on 30 December 2007 with Bilawal Bhutto as
the chairman. Later he also ascended to the highest office of the president of
Pakistan. Mr. Zardari played his cards smartly well both as the de-facto head
or chairperson of the PPP (December 2007 to the present) as well as the
president of Pakistan (2008-2013).

Asif Ali Zardari carries around his neck the
lasting millstone of incomparable corruption and indelible obsessive lust for
making and hoarding money through every foul and sleazy mean. As a matter of
fact Zardari is not from the bloodline of Bhutto family. Due to peculiar
circumstances resulting from the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, his rise to
the political pinnacle of Pakistan and assumption of the party’s leadership was
rather ignored.

While purposely abdicating the party
leadership, Zardari donned it on the head of a young boy who lacked maturity
and experience which comes over a period of time and by going through the
grueling political process. By keeping Bilawal on the front, Zardari has been
busy in massing wealth all these years.

The bare fact is that Bilawal Bhutto doesn’t
have the grit, the making, style or the demeanor to serve as a political
leader. We have seen that he spent the period of his adolescence for pretty
long time in London and Dubai (April 1999-December-2011 with short visits to
Pakistan in between)) studying and having a glamorous and flamboyant life at
the same time. The startling details of his fun-laden lifestyle abroad are
available on social media and in certain books.

He made a major
public speech on 27 December 2012on the
fifth death anniversary of his late mother, Benazir Bhutto. Yet his
political career actually started on 18 October 2014 by addressing a mass rally
in Karachi. Thereafter he seems to have gone in hibernation.

Bilawal looks more like the type of a young
darling lad of his party and precious scion of Bhutto clan. Yet it would be erroneous to claim that he
can provide a dynamic, revolutionary, rejuvenating and sterling leadership to
PPP. Why not seasoned people like
Khurshid Shah and Amin Fahim, Mian Raza Rabbani and similar other senior party
leaders are given the reins of this powerful political party of yester
years.

These guys have gone through the political
mill, spent their entire lives in serving the party and have suffered
enormously on that count. Their loyalty to the party is unswerving and
uncompromising. They might go ahead in improving partially or wholly the
sullied image of PPP and bring it back to its pristine glory and revolutionary
track, infuse a new spirit in order to serve the people with a renewed dynamism
and dedication.

In the hindsight, I remember the tumultuous period
following the signing of the Tashkent Peace agreement after the 1965 war between
India and Pakistan: the two neighboring yet perennially hostile countries. Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto the young and robust foreign minister of president Ayub Khan parted
company with him to launch a political movement under the banner of Pakistan
People’s Party. He accused president Ayub of conceding Pakistan’s national interests in theTashkent Declarationsigned on 10 January 1966.

Bhutto’s oratorical skills and promise for a new
people’s Pakistan carried through a nationwide movement resulted in the ouster
of Ayub Khan in March 1969 and
replacement by a morally degenerate Army chief general Yahya Khan as the president
of Pakistan.

Following the cessation of East Pakistan in
1971, General Yahya Khan transferred Power to ZAB on 20 December 1971 because
of electoral victory of his party in 1970 general elections in West Pakistan
which was now the left over Pakistan. It took six years (1965-1971) for Bhutto
to become the president of Pakistan.

Notwithstanding Bhutto’s insatiable lust for
power and his role in the separation of East Pakistan and Pakistan army’s disastrous
deployment in the former East Pakistan and India military intervention, the
fact remains that Bhutto had the inimitable talent of a great leader as an
orator, a political maverick and an astute strategist.

His achievements after
assuming power are varied and monumental. One of such achievements was to
restore the battered confidence of the people of Pakistan after the cessation
of East Pakistan and Pakistan army’s surrender to the Indian army.

Now compare ZAB with the incumbent chairman of
the PPP Bilawal Zardari Bhutto and also with the co-chairperson of the PPP Asif
Ali Zardari. One tends to acknowledge that while ZAB founded and harnessed the
PPP into a formidable political force that knocked down a powerful military
ruler of Pakistan; his successors have debased this party with stigma of
corruption, misuse of power, money grabbing and a host of serious crimes.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The latest hearing staged on October 22 by the Congressional
Select Committee to further probe the September 11, 2012 attack on the American
Consulate in Benghazi Libya turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Hillary
Clinton; the former Secretary of State and the current Democratic presidential
candidate for 2016 elections.

It was during the uprising of 2011 against Muhammar Qaddafi, the
ruler of Libya that the American Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Libya was
ransacked and 4 Americans including ambassador Jay Christopher Stevens lost
their lives.

The House of Representatives Select Committee on Benghazi
comprising 7 Republicans and 5 Democratic Party members continued their deliberations
from 10 AM to 9 PM that means for 11 hours. At the end of the day one would
feel that it was an exercise in futility as far as the studied attempt by
Republican members to blemish Mrs. Hillary Clinton was concerned.

Madam Hillary seemed to have a clear and transparent conscience
and exhibited an admirably dignified, composed, logical and sober posture.

This
prolonged session was the eighth in a row and patently appeared to be a
malicious move on the part of the Republicans to make a dent in her forthcoming
presidential elections which by all indications she is likely to win.

This impression gets its veracity from the views of the friends of
Trey Gowdy the House Select Committee’s Chairman. In the backdrop of the
comments of some of his close friends, Mr. Gowdy has been suspected to be
partisan with a motive to discredit Mrs. Clinton as presidential competitor in
the November 2016 elections. Trey Gowdy’s best friends in Congress
Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, on Fox News said that the
committee’s purpose was to bring down Mrs. Clinton.

Another Republican lawmaker, Representative Richard Hanna of New
York, reiterated the same claim. The questions that were hurled at Hillary were
a refrain of the past questions that would convey a message that she was
primarily or solely responsible for the harrowing Benghazi tragedy. The issue
of emails from her private server or computer was played up several times
especially by the chairman of the committee, Rep Tery Cowdy of South Carolina.

While the tone and tenor of the Republican members was aggressive
and mostly deriding, Mrs. Clinton was not provoked and remained within the
bounds of decency and decorum. On several occasions they would not listen to
her full answers and disdainfully interrupt her by posing supplementary
questions. Disrupting her conversation meant that they were riveted on their
assertions rather than her response. It was the demonstration of a loaded
mindset to override her explanations.

As far the merits of the Benghazi gory incident are concerned, the
bare fact is that the State Department or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
any country is not primarily responsible for the security of the premises and
compounds of the foreign missions established in various countries. The safety
and protection of the assets aboard including the premises of the embassies
fall within the ambit of the interior ministries, the intelligence agencies and
the local police. This is an established practice and followed in all the
countries.

The foreign office that we in the United States call the State
Department is responsible for interstate diplomatic and political relations and
handing out directives and guidelines to the embassies about the issues like
visits of the dignitaries, interaction with other embassies, consulates and the
host countries’ departments particularly the ministry of foreign affairs.

Within the United States or for that matter in any
country, there can be coordination and joint strategy between the State
Department and other ministries such as defense, culture, agriculture and
security agencies on international issues or problems such as the Benghazi
tragedy. But it is a sheer misunderstanding to claim or contend that all
responsibilities including security of foreign diplomatic missions devolve on
the State Department.

As such the accusation hurled on Hillary Clinton by the Republican
members of House Select Committee for not doing enough to protect the American
Consulate in Benghazi is misleading and hollow. It exhibits their ignorance as
to how the state institutions operate and the tasks and responsibilities are
allocated to them.

To blame Hillary Clinton of dereliction of responsibilities in
protecting the mission from the attack does not hold water and is a shaky
premise to stand upon. From the allegations of the Republican congressmen and
women on the panel, it surmises that they would have wanted Hillary to be
physically present in Benghazi and hold back the attackers.

The Libyan cities were caught in a rampaging hurricane of lawlessness
and a bulging uprising against tyrant Qaddafi swelling by hours. It
was impossible even for the Libyan army or the scant security staff at the
mission to stop or beat back the rioters from attacking the consulate. The
attack on American Benghazi Diplomatic Mission was sudden and unpredictable and
four members of the mission lost their lives. Such unfortunate incidents happen
during a civil war situation.

Madam Hillary Rodham Clinton has advocated her stance quite
objectively and convincingly. As per her statement, she did everything possible
within the State Office to help the besieged mission staff that included
talking to the Libyan government officials and other heads of States one of
whom was the then Egyptian president.

Through the latest hearing on October 22, her role and stance on
Benghazi tragedy has been effectively brought home to the American voters. As
such the Republican Party has inadvertently, done a great favor to Hillary by
saving her from the labor of explaining at length the Benghazi tragedy in her
electoral public rallies.

There are a host of reasons and grounds to presage that Hillary
Clinton is going to win the 2016 elections and thus have the unique honor of
being the first female president of the United States of America. Such an honor
was bagged by the incumbent president Barack Hussain Obama for being the first
non-white president of USA.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Donald Trump is a billionaire realty kingpin and one of the Republican candidates
for the highest and the most prestigious office of the president of the United
States of America. He fumes, frets and hops on the Republican Party turf as well the
American soil by hurling funny and rather disparaging remarks, dainty anecdotes
and perplexing tidbits like a versatile conjurer.

He outlines his provocative policy statements from his armory of arguments
against the rival politicians. His level of tolerance with the press and news
channels is meager as can be seen from his distraught behavior and annoyance
with FOX, NBC and Univision news and TV channels.

His style of gesticulating and
making different contours of face is interesting but perhaps he is made that
way. It might turn out to be an asset
for him as he hits his targets with a straight shot and with a tinge of
ridicule or curt rebuke that is certainly a new trend in the political debates
that we have been watching all these years. He is unabashed and undaunted in
hurling his punches and salvos of comments making the rivals defenseless and
fazed for a while.

Occasionally or invariably he lacks decorum and decency or kind of
parliamentarian touch in bludgeoning his Republican contenders by making
demeaning personal remarks. Look at the comments that he hurled at rival
Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina by disdainfully pointing towards
her face or looks that might be amusing but distasteful at the same time.

He
remarked "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?" Trump
said to Solotaroff. "Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?”
Later he retracted from his previous
stance by feigning that he was talking about her persona and not face.

He might not be interested in Mexican votes. Otherwise how could pronounce
that all the Mexicans were “rapists”. This unwarranted and mindless judgment
might deprive him off some sizable number of votes in case he wins the
Republican debate. Latinos and Mexicans are around 15 per cent of the total
population of the United States.

He says that native children of immigrants were “anchor babies”. It means
that the illegal immigrants can claim legal stay on the basis of the children
born here. This is true but that is what the constitution of the United States
permits.

His immigration plan aims at deporting
country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants and ending birthright citizenship,
a “guarantee in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment that any child born on U.S.
soil is automatically granted U.S. citizenship, including children of
foreign-born parents”.

Now United States is not the only country granting such a right. It is one
of the 33 countries that grant right of soil or the automatic citizenship to
anyone born in a territory or country, including children of undocumented immigrants.Interestingly
Trump’s mother was a Scottish
immigrant to United States. His paternal grandparents were Germanimmigrants.

With Americans Muslims he
is most annoyed although all the immigrants including Muslims are law-abiding
and part of the magnificent American society that guarantees fundamental rights
and liberty within the framework of the constitution.

He still doubts Obama was not an American born citizen. Recently in an
elections rally he supported the question of a person when he asked “We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims. We know our
current President is one. You know he’s not even an American. When can we get rid of all the Muslims in
America? To that racial question
a smiling Trump responded “We need this question.”

Expressing his intense
dislike for the women she dubs them “fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals”. Later talking to CNN's Don Lemon, he lashed out in
retaliation, at Fox News debate moderator Megyn Kelly with a sleazy rebuke
because of her question as to why he was so disrespectful to the women by
portraying them as pigs and dogs etc. He said to CNN, “You could see there was
blood coming out of her( Kelly) eyes, blood coming out of her wherever”.

But all said and done, it
is fundamentally, the public opinion and popular judgment that is going to be a
decisive factor and to make the difference. There might be a method in Trumps’ recklessness as astonishingly he is leading
other Republican contenders in public opinion polls. Thus far with a 33 %
approval rating he is on top among a list of 15 candidates.

But per say, despite his unusual plans and promises if he is still
appealing to the people and draws large crowds at his public rallies, then it
demonstrates his popularity. His indecency and rather occasional vulgarity
might be a new interesting and piquant dimension for his audience. Otherwise
how could he stay on top with all the provocative and rather weird ranting?

But supposedly if he beats all other Republican presidential candidates
and goes straight on top to face the Democratic rival, then notwithstanding his
visibly outlandish behavior, he would achieve a milestone.

It appears that there is a lobby in the United States that might be happy with
his agenda and manifesto incorporating such plans as withdrawal or denial of citizenship
to the babies of the immigrants born in America. It is rather also mind-boggling
that despite his humiliating and highly indecent comments about fair sex, one
can still see a sizable presence of women of all ages in his election rallies.

Even if all the Mexicans and Latinos (15 % of the total population) don’t
vote from him and even the African American (also 15 %) might be divided on
voting for him, he might still win the elections. It is yet to be seen how the
situation emerges as there a whole year for the presidential election to take
place. It is also to be seen which candidate from the Democratic Party wins the
final round.

With a probability of Hillary Clinton from the Democratic Party and Donald
Trump from the Republican winning their respective top positions, the competition
might get tough, terse and rather overly interesting.

But there could be
another guess that Bel Carson (now second), Carly Fiorina (third position) or
Jeb Bush (fourth position) might win the final round in the debate now apace
within the Republican Party for the final victor to come forward and face the
Democratic rival.

About Me

Columnist/Analyst/ Former Diplomat.
After obtaining my master’s degrees in Urdu and English literature from Punjab University, I started my career by teaching in a college. Thereafter, I had a stint in the diplomatic service of Pakistan. Finally I landed in journalism, an occupation that I am wedded to for over 20 years now.
I am a strong believer in a civil society and staunch opponent of exploitation in all forms.